I had a two-fold reaction to the recent news that Clint Eastwood is in talks to make a return to acting with Robert Lorenz‘s Trouble With the Curve. On the one hand, his turn in Gran Torino was so classically irresistible — I mean, seriously, seeing him point a finger gun at a group of young punks put one of 2008′s biggest smiles on my face — that it made the idea of any other superior “final” performance seem unimaginable.

Yet the description of his potential role here — that of “an aging baseball scout on a trip with his daughter to check out an up and coming pitching prospect” — also sounds so tailor-made to Eastwood’s sensibilities that the idea of him passing it up is a painful thought.

The original word was that Sandra Bullock had her eye on the role of Eastwood‘s daughter. Well, you can strike those from your ballot, as it looks like Bullock and Warner Bros. have been unable to come to terms. And that’s unfortunate, I think, because I imagine that Bullock — both with her strong comedic timing and her firm screen presence — would make a delightfully effective pairing with Eastwood.

But perhaps this isn’t something to harp on — Amy Adams and Reese Witherspoon are already being targeted, and I’m sure there are hoards of other capable actresses who are biting to jump aboard. [Twitch]

There’s no word yet on a potential release date or a production timeframe. Looks like we’ll be sitting on this casting process for a little while longer.